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It’s a pricy mainstay on restaurant menus, but avocado toast is an easy and healthy breakfast or lunch that you can make at home. Avocados are full of healthy fats and vitamins C, E and B6. They’re fiber all-stars, too, with 10 grams per cup. Best known as the base for guacamole, because of its creaminess, avocado is now being turned into desserts like puddings and ice cream. Put mashed avocado, a great mayo substitute, on toast and it makes a meal. Avocados are rarely ripe when you buy them, so plan accordingly, allowing for two days of ripening on your windowsill. They should be just soft to the touch, but not mushy. Dark-skinned Hass avocados have a silky, rich taste, and you can get them virtually year-round. Avocado toast couldn’t be simpler to prepare and, despite its pricy cost at restaurants, it’s inexpensive when you make it yourself. Avocado Toast 1 ripe Hass avocado 1/2 lemon 1/4 teaspoon crushed red chili flakes (optional) 1/4 teaspoon salt 2 slices whole grain bread 1 large tomato, sliced 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil 4 basil leaves, torn Cut the avocado open, remove the pit and scoop the flesh into a medium bowl. Squeeze on the juice from the lemon and add the chili flakes and salt. Mash with a fork until smooth. Toast the bread and spread… read on >

Doing the right amount of exercise every day is a top health goal. To make sure you’re getting all the right types of exercise, you want to get familiar with these key exercise terms. Then you can be sure these activities are all part of your weekly plan. Aerobic Exercise, AKA Cardio Aerobic exercise means activity that requires a continuous amount of oxygen to the muscles being used. For heart health, the exercise must raise your heart rate to within the ideal range for your age, usually 70% to 80% of 220 minus your age. Cardio activities include running, brisk walking, swimming and cycling. High-intensity interval training is a popular approach. Within a cardio workout, you alternate a few minutes of slow or no movement with shorter bursts of the activity at an all-out pace. Cross training is simply varying your choice of cardio activity within the same exercise session or on different days of the week. This lets you use different muscle groups, helps prevent overuse injuries and keeps things interesting. Anaerobic Exercise, AKA Strength Training You need strength training for healthy muscles, essential for everyday activities like just getting up from the sofa. Also called weight training or resistance training, these exercises work various sets of muscles. Strength training is anaerobic, because it doesn’t require extra oxygen. It should be done every second… read on >

Alcohol taxes do little to reduce the burden on American taxpayers for the harmful impacts of heavy drinking, a new study finds. The cost of harm caused by excessive drinking in the United States is just over $2 per drink, with about 80 cents of that shouldered by government. But state and federal alcohol taxes bring in an average of about 21 cents per drink. That means most of the financial toll of alcohol-related harm is borne by people who drink in moderation or don’t drink at all, the study authors said. “Total alcohol taxes accounted for a median of 26.7% of the economic cost to the government, and 10.3% of the total economic cost of excessive drinking,” the researchers reported in the Sept. 11 issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. “The disparity between alcohol-related cost to government and alcohol taxes amounts to a large taxpayer-funded subsidy of excessive drinking and alcohol companies,” senior author Dr. Timothy Naimi said in a journal news release. He’s a physician and epidemiologist at Boston Medical Center and Boston University School of Public Health. Research shows that higher prices on alcohol — often in the form of increased taxes — can reduce excessive drinking and related harms, such as violence, vehicle-related injuries and liver cirrhosis. “Increasing alcohol taxes could improve public health and reduce the… read on >

A new, more toxic strain of strep A bacteria is causing an outbreak of scarlet fever among British children, researchers report. The upswing in scarlet fever is the biggest seen since the 1960s. Between 2014 and 2016, the number of cases went from 15,000 to more than 19,000. The infection tends to peak between March and May, the study found. “The new lineage [of strep A] seems to be outcompeting its predecessor within the population,” said lead researcher Dr. Shiranee Sriskandan, a professor of infectious diseases at Imperial College London. This new strain also appears to produce more toxin than the previous strain, she said. Scarlet fever is easily cured with antibiotics, especially penicillin, according to Dr. Marc Siegel, a professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City. If strep infections are not treated, however, they can spread throughout the body and become fatal, he said. “There are 11,000 to 15,000 cases of invasive strep among kids each year in the United States, which result in up to 1,500 deaths,” Siegel said. He fully expects this more aggressive strain of strep A to show up in the United States. Sriskandan added that “this strain type is fully sensitive to commonly used antibiotics, so resistance has not played a part in its emergence.” Strep A causes infections other than scarlet fever, and… read on >

Spending time on their phones or online doesn’t harm teens’ mental health, according to a new study that challenges a widely held belief. “It may be time for adults to stop arguing over whether smartphones and social media are good or bad for teens’ mental health and start figuring out ways to best support them in both their offline and online lives,” said study co-author Candice Odgers. She’s a professor of psychological science at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). For the study, researchers surveyed more than 2,000 10- to 15-year-olds at public schools in North Carolina and tracked nearly 400 of them on their smartphones for two weeks. The young people reported on any mental health symptoms three times a day, as well as their daily digital technology use. Neither using more types of digital technology or spending more time using it was associated with worse mental health, the researchers found. When links between digital technology use and mental health were found, they were minor and positive, according to the report. For example, participants who sent more text messages reported feeling better than those who texted less often, the findings showed. “Contrary to the common belief that smartphones and social media are damaging adolescents’ mental health, we don’t see much support for the idea that time spent on phones and online is associated with… read on >

(HealthDay News) — Broken bones and injured tendons or ligaments can cause significant pain. Casts and splints are designed to help relieve this pain by limiting movement, says the American Academy of Family Physicians. To care for your cast properly, the AAFP offers these suggestions: Cover your cast with a plastic bag when bathing and showering. Ask your doctor for safe methods to relieve any itchy skin. Keep the area around the edge of your cast clean and moisturized. Wiggle your fingers or toes to help with circulation. Apply a covered ice pack for 15 to 30 minutes over a cast or splint. Ask your doctor whether you can take over-the-counter pain medicine.

Make the most of your farmers market bounty with fast salads that highlight end-of-summer’s best produce, like a filling Cobb salad with tomatoes, corn, and green and red lettuces. Some simple prep tips make it an easy lunch or dinner, and smart swaps help streamline the traditional version’s calorie count. Start by prepping your greens the right way. Carefully wash the lettuce leaves, shake them dry by hand or with a salad spinner, and then wrap them in paper towels to crisp for about 15 minutes in the fridge. When you’re ready to use them, roll them up like a cigar and use a serrated knife to slice them into ribbons. This makes lettuce a lot easier to eat. Adding fresh corn to a salad is a snap. If the corn is really fresh and the kernels are tender, there’s no need to cook it. If you’re unsure, bring a large pot of water to boil, drop in the shucked cobs, cover and turn off the heat. In about seven minutes, they’ll be ready. Once cool, use a serrated knife to slice off the kernels. Traditional Cobb salad contains bacon and cheese — and that can add up to too much fat. Make a leaner swap for the bacon by using prosciutto, which is cured so no cooking is required. In place of the usual… read on >

Tamping down inflammation is a must for people with a chronic inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis or lupus. But you can be exposed to damaging inflammation without having a specific medical condition. Inflammation prevents the body from adequately reacting to stressors and puts the aging process on an unwanted fast track, increasing the likelihood of problems like heart disease. The negative effects of inflammation can be so significant that leading researchers from the University of Bologna in Italy coined the phrase inflamm-aging. So making anti-inflammation lifestyle choices is good for everyone. How to Avoid Inflamm-aging Eat a heart-healthy diet focusing on foods like fatty fish, fruits and vegetables. Keep in mind that sugar is highly inflammatory. Get active with moderate cardio exercise. Remember: Good health guidelines call for 30 minutes a day on at least five days per week. Lose excess weight, especially if you’re carrying those pounds around your middle. Avoid exposure to all forms of secondhand smoke, and of course, if you smoke, quit. Limit alcohol to one drink per day if you’re a woman, two if you’re a man. Clock seven to eight hours of sleep every night. Some people need more, others need less, but this is the sweet spot between not enough and too much. Manage stress. Stress is often unavoidable, but you can minimize its effects with techniques like… read on >

(HealthDay News) — Your kids had a good summer. You were able to get them away from the TV and outside to play for lots of exercise. But now, they’re back to school and you want them to keep off the pounds. The Children’s Hospital Medical Center of Cincinnati says lunches provided by many schools are loaded with fat. Packing a lunch for your kids is a healthy alternative, so you can control the amount of food. And include fruit and low-fat snacks, instead of potato chips. The medical center warns that after-school snacks can be full of fat. Yogurt and fruit are good choices for those times.

Intensive treatment to lower high blood pressure can decrease older adults’ risk of sharp blood pressure drops that can cause dizziness and increase the likelihood of falling, a new study says. It included more than 2,800 patients, average age 63, who had recently suffered a stroke. Half received more aggressive treatment to lower their blood pressure to below 130/80 mm Hg. The others got less intensive therapy with a target of between 130-149/80-90 mm Hg or more. Blood pressure levels and symptoms were monitored over an average 15 visits per patient. During each visit, blood pressure was measured three times while a patient was seated and one time after two minutes of standing. This was done to detect any changes and symptoms of orthostatic hypotension (OH), a sudden drop in blood pressure that can occur when a person goes from sitting to standing. OH is associated with dizziness and increased risk of falling. More aggressive blood pressure treatment and systolic blood pressure of 130 mm/Hg or under was associated with a lower risk of OH. Systolic blood pressure is the top number in a reading and represents the force of blood flow against the arteries when the heart contracts. The study was presented Saturday at an American Heart Association meeting, in New Orleans. Research presented at meetings is typically considered preliminary until published in a… read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Avocado Toast With a Twist

Talking Health: The Vocabulary of Fitness

Booze Taxes Don’t Make Up for Societal Costs of Excess Drinking: Study

New Strain of Strep Causing Cases of Scarlet Fever

Don’t Blame Technology for Young People’s Mood Problems: Study

Health Tip: Cast Care

Fast Prep Steps for Healthier Salads

How to Fight Hidden Causes of Inflammation

Cut the Fat for Lunch

Aggressive Blood Pressure Treatment Does Not Put Seniors at Risk: Study